If anyone has been watching Channel 4 over the past few weeks, they will have seen the adverts for the new show pioneered by TV chef Jamie Oliver. "Jamie's Dream School" takes failing students and puts them into a school where all the teachers are celebrities. David Starkey will teach history, Daley Thomson will be PE coaching and Sir Robert Winston will be the science professor. The question Mr Oliver is asking is "Could we get our kids' brains working differently? Make them want to actually turn up at school". Through taking people who children admire and look up to, Oliver is trying to see whether despondent pupils will find a new-found love for learning. It's something of a revolutionary idea, which many argue may change the British school system forever. However it is one which is creating a lot of opposition among 'everyday' teachers who are wondering why it is seemingly them who are being blamed for failing students across Britain.
On the forums on TES Connect, the leading website in the UK for teaching professionals, a storm seems to be brewing. Angry teachers are questioning Oliver's authority over the matter. What gives him the right to say that there are no 'dream teachers' already in schools? Does he take the opinion that there is simply no skill in the actual art of teaching itself? Is he saying that the failings of the education system are down to the lack of expertise on teachers' behalf? Many members are outraged at the fact that Oliver seems to be assuming such things. On the site's weekly poll the members were asked whether they think Jamie Oliver has what it takes to improve British schools. In a somewhat damning inictment 79.7% said no.
It would seem that the show has served to reveal many problems within the British teaching system from the over-zealous Ofsted to the highly restrictive health and safety requirements which prevent many teachers from being able the help children reach their full potential. Teachers on the site are speaking of how they are struggling daily in oversized classes with students who simply do not want to learn. Oliver is showing an idealised classroom with very few pupils where they are able to have much more attention lavished upon them than in a real classroom. One member on the forum, dogbert82 gave their opinion on the matter; "[He is] in a much better position to make [his] tutoring sessions fun because [he is] taking small, probably one-on-one sessions where they have specifically elected to be taught [the] particular subject. I'm sure it's a jolly little party for them. Try performing a regular job doing the same thing with 30 random 15 year olds and you'll find it doesn't work so well." Another member lizburf writes; " I worry this type of dream school undermines the value of trained teachers, continuing to support the theory that 'those that can; DO, those that can't; Teach.'" The daily school regime needs routine and formality - some state institutions have one thousand plus pupils and often staff shortages. Teachers are unsung heroes who often have to also be social workers, riot police and any number of other roles yet this show implies they are completely incompetent and failing children nationwide.
I honestly do not see what Jamie Oliver is trying to do with this new experiment of his. Hopefully some good will come out of it and he will get a harsh wake up call that the problems within the education system go far deeper than teachers and that his judgement was completely skewed in the first place by his own bad experiences with school.
Monday 22 August 2011
Friday 19 August 2011
A 21st Century Disturbance
Looking back on the riots of a few weeks ago I still feel almost dirty. It is as though by committing such crimes that particular group of young Brits have tarred the rest of their age group and nationality with the same brush. I recently heard something which completely illustrated exactly the reason for people's disdain for these criminals-
In Africa they're looting the grocery stores because they're starving to death. In Britain they loot and destroy simply because they can.
It is an apt statement. These kids may feel like they're deprived because they live on a council estate and don't have an ipad or a 3DTV. Yet they have no real experience of deprivation. Our welfare system, while ridiculed every day by tabloids, is one of the greatest in the world and provides as much as possible to make sure kids get the best start in life. I can guarantee that none of the rioters has ever experienced real hunger, having not eaten for weeks. I am sure that they have never not been able to receive inoculations, medical treatment or a social worker or counsellor to speak to about their problems. And if they have it is the fault of either themselves or their parents. In Britain today all you have to do is ask... And half the time you don't even have to!
They looted because they were bored or greedy. A modern disease in the western world. They want it, so regardless of whether or not they have worked for it, they think they can take it. They beat the corner shop owners they have seen most days of their lives, they burn down the homes of neighbours and schoolmates, they make aunties, uncles and friends forcibly redundant by wrecking their workplace. And who cares? Not them. They got a new flat screen.
All I could say to these people is how disappointed I am. They are despicable, stupid and completely ignorant and the sooner they learn not to bite the hand that feeds them the better. As for a solution.. Well, at risk of sounding like your grandmother they need a good hiding. Send them to prison with the big boys - The killers, the rapists, the hardened criminals. Then let them see how hard they are. Their greed and disregard for others is a modern capitalist epidemic which needs to be cured. Of course I agree with the idea that you need grassroots education and support in inner city areas synonymous with deprivation but I think these events showed us just how successful they have been. The softly softly approach has lost us a generation of people who now seem to be in a state of anomie. They looked almost feral as they ran through the streets with their bricks and poles. So if they want to act like animals they should be treated as such. And the best way to make a dog behave? Show them who's boss/
In Africa they're looting the grocery stores because they're starving to death. In Britain they loot and destroy simply because they can.
It is an apt statement. These kids may feel like they're deprived because they live on a council estate and don't have an ipad or a 3DTV. Yet they have no real experience of deprivation. Our welfare system, while ridiculed every day by tabloids, is one of the greatest in the world and provides as much as possible to make sure kids get the best start in life. I can guarantee that none of the rioters has ever experienced real hunger, having not eaten for weeks. I am sure that they have never not been able to receive inoculations, medical treatment or a social worker or counsellor to speak to about their problems. And if they have it is the fault of either themselves or their parents. In Britain today all you have to do is ask... And half the time you don't even have to!
They looted because they were bored or greedy. A modern disease in the western world. They want it, so regardless of whether or not they have worked for it, they think they can take it. They beat the corner shop owners they have seen most days of their lives, they burn down the homes of neighbours and schoolmates, they make aunties, uncles and friends forcibly redundant by wrecking their workplace. And who cares? Not them. They got a new flat screen.
All I could say to these people is how disappointed I am. They are despicable, stupid and completely ignorant and the sooner they learn not to bite the hand that feeds them the better. As for a solution.. Well, at risk of sounding like your grandmother they need a good hiding. Send them to prison with the big boys - The killers, the rapists, the hardened criminals. Then let them see how hard they are. Their greed and disregard for others is a modern capitalist epidemic which needs to be cured. Of course I agree with the idea that you need grassroots education and support in inner city areas synonymous with deprivation but I think these events showed us just how successful they have been. The softly softly approach has lost us a generation of people who now seem to be in a state of anomie. They looked almost feral as they ran through the streets with their bricks and poles. So if they want to act like animals they should be treated as such. And the best way to make a dog behave? Show them who's boss/
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